


Marching On

by dreamsandbeyond



Category: Captain America (Comics), Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: F/M, Time Travel, Wartime
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-11
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-01-01 04:09:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1040177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsandbeyond/pseuds/dreamsandbeyond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She couldn't breathe. She felt dizzy. This was the man who started it all. The one she had come to hate and resent. </p><p> </p><p>He looked so young.</p><p> </p><p>"You're Steve Rogers?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Girl on a mission

**Author's Note:**

> This work is unbeta'd so it might contain a good amount of errors. I will probably make edits to the chapters as things progress, so stay tuned. Titles may also change.
> 
> This idea has been swirling in my brain for a while. My intention is to make this into a well flesh out story, but we will see how it goes.

Breathe in.

  
Breathe out.

  
Birds were chirping and her head was killing her. She squinted up at the light coming through the canopy of the trees.

Things had gone wrong very quickly. The last thing she remembered was an explosion taking place which would explain her waking up on the forest floor disoriented and confused. She slowly sat up and looked around. Immediately, she noticed she was not in the same location as to where she had been when the blast had hit.

It was starting to seem like she had bitten off more than she could chew with this mission. Part of her task was to monitor a group of highly destructive terrorists; terrorists that seemed to be nowhere in sight along with their building of operations. The most disturbing fact was that none of the intel that she had been gathering over the past few days had led her to believe that they were building a bomb of any sort.

Given that she had ended up in a completely different location than where she started and the fact that she hadn't been too close to the origin point of the detonation, she guessed that the explosion had affected a large area. Although looking around the area she was in, it didn't look like a large explosion had washed through it. It was another startling fact that was starting to cause more than a small amount of concern to build within her. She didn't like how things weren't adding up.

She shook off all the questions that were beginning to form in her mind. She had to focus. The best thing for her to do now was get into contact with her contractors and regroup. Currently, she was in a forest in the middle of nowhere. She needed to get to civilization if she wanted to have any hope of salvaging the situation. Before she could do that however, she needed to assess her condition.

It was fortunate that she had survived with relatively minor injuries. Taking full survey of herself, she had a few scrapes along with what seemed to be a sprained left wrist. She didn’t have much on her in terms of medical supplies given that she had been hit by the blast on her way back to her camp so she was going to have to make do with her untreated cuts and wrist. Luckily, the few items she did have in her backpack had survived and remained relatively undamaged. Unfortunately, she couldn't say the same for her wireless signal. 

For whatever reason, she couldn't connect to the proper satellites and get her navigation and other software online. She humphed and fiddled with them for a little bit before deciding that it was a lost cause. Whatever was the matter would take far too long to figure out with what she had at her disposal. 

She slowly got up off the ground and gathered her things, brushing dirt and debris from her clothes as she went. It was time to get moving, she didn't have time to waste. As always with missions like these, she brought paper maps and a compass just in case her GPS fell through. The problem was she had no idea where she was. The best she could do was estimate based on where she had made her camp and where the site of interest was. That would have to be good enough for now. According to the map, the closest town was twenty miles to the west.

She signed as she looked up the sky. She estimated that it was about one o’clock in the afternoon. She would have to move at a brisk pace if she wanted to get anywhere by nightfall. Of course, even if she moved fast it would depend on if she was going in the right direction. She snorted. Standing around debating and worrying about things she had no control over weren't going to get her to her destination. ‘It’s gonna be a long twenty miles,’ she thought as she moved out towards the western direction.

 

* * *

 

Two hours later and her situation hadn't changed. She was walking on the blind hope that she wasn't too far off where she had estimated. If worse came to worst, she would just end up walking in the western direction for another day or until she found some type of landmark, preferably a river. She knew how to survive in the wilderness with limited resources so that wouldn't be a problem. Truly, her issue was that she needed to report what had happened ASAP. She had checked her wireless signal a few more times but with no luck. Things were starting to get irritating, but she didn't have many options. So she kept on walking, making sure to keep on alert in case there was something unfriendly out there.

Another hour went by before her ears picked up the telltale signs of a vehicle. Maybe her luck was turning around, she thought as she rushed towards the sound. It sounded like they were moving pretty fast. She broke through the trees onto a path that looked like it was used only every hundred years or so. Calling it a road would be too generous.

She looked down the path to see two old jeeps driving towards her a little less than a 2 miles out. She frowned as she waved them down. The build of the jeeps suggested that they were quite old although they looked to be in somewhat good condition. As they got closer, she could see that there were seven men between both vehicles. It a bit unexpected to see a group of people all the way out here, but perhaps they were returning from a hunting trip of some sort. Hopefully, she could hitch hike a ride with them to the nearest town without too much trouble.

Her plans went to hell as soon as the first jeep pulled up.

The man riding shotgun in the first jeep immediately stood up and aimed a handgun at her head.

“Who are you?” he asked. She blinked as she slowly brought her hands up in the air. It seemed that today was just not her day. She took a minute to look at all of the men between the two jeeps. One thing that struck her immediately was what they were wearing. They all seemed to have some type of U.S. army uniform on although they were severely outdated. That much she was sure of. One of the other men in the second jeep had on a well-worn Captain American costume. That alone was very strange without even taking into consideration what the others were wearing. The other thing she found odd was that the man pointing a gun at her had a distinct Brooklyn accent. They were in the middle of the Belgium wilderness.

What the hell was going on here? 

“I’m just trying to get to the nearest city. I’m a bit lost.” She kept her voice calm and low. She also tried to make herself look as non-threatening as possible. The other men were all looking at her intently, some with looks of disbelief on their face as she answered. The small alarms that had been ringing in her head had turned into full on dread. What she thought had been her luck turning around had in fact been just the icing on the cake for a botched mission.

“Lost?” He said, sounding incredulous. “Look lady, I don’t know who you think you’re fooling with that line, but it sure ain't me. Now, who are you and what are you doing out here?” His tone got colder with the last question. He was outright glaring at her and the gun was kept level with her head. If she wasn't worried before, now would be the time to start worrying.

‘What the hell have I gotten myself into’, she thought as her frown turned even sterner and her body tensed for a fight. Her instincts were screaming at her that things were about to get ugly.

She just hoped she got out of this without any bullet holes.


	2. Wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, this is not beta'd so there may be errors. Hopefully, I will be doing some edits next weekend. In the meantime, enjoy.

The mission objective was simple; retrieve one of the devices that Hydra was using to power their advanced weaponry. The actual execution of the mission wasn’t that difficult either. Based on their intelligence, Hydra was transporting the device from one facility to another. All they had to do was intercept the escort and high tail it back to base.

So far, the mission had been successful. After securing the item, they sped out to their rendezvous point. Everything was running smoothly and in a few hours they would be at the port from which they would ‘ferry’ over to England.

The mission had been going so well that Bucky wasn’t the least bit surprised when a wrench was thrown into their plans.

As they sped down a barely used road, a colored woman had stepped in their path.  Not exactly the wrench Bucky had been expecting.

As their vehicles approached her, Bucky grabbed his handgun, ready to fire at a moment’s notice. He could feel the adrenaline rushing through him. Whatever kind of a trap this was, he was ready. He gave a signal to Steve, who was in the second jeep, to let him know that he would take point on this.

It was extremely likely that she was a Hydra agent in disguise. It made sense, in way. A colored woman was the last person they would suspect to work for the Nazis, much less Hydra. They probably gave her a really good backstory to explain her presence in the forest in Belgium. However, the real question was, how did she find them. They had chosen this particular route for how little it was used and their attack on the envoy had been only hours ago, hardly enough time for Hydra to plan what looked to be an elaborate trap. Although he didn’t let it show, the fact that Hydra had whipped up a trap so quickly had unnerved him.

He became even more unnerved once he had her at gun point.

“Lost,” Bucky repeated.

Who in their right minds would buy that? What looked and sounded like an American black woman was somehow lost in the middle of a war zone, thousands of miles away from home.

They even had her, most likely a him, in ridiculous clothes.

Instead of a dress, she was wearing black pants and black shirt with black combat boots. She also had a small pack strapped to her back.

Something was off about this and Bucky didn’t like it one bit. He tensed up even more and kept his gun steady as he let her know he wasn’t buying her bullshit. Dugan and Morita who were in the jeep with him kept glancing around looking for any other signs of life while Bucky waited on her response.

He was beginning to suspect that perhaps they had caught her off guard. Hydra must have been planning on sending her in but at a different location. It might be why her story wasn’t straight, but then why leave her out in the wilderness by herself without the proper directions. Bucky just couldn’t put his finger on it. 

One thing he had to give her was that she was calm. Of course, it was also another mark against her. No dame would be calm in a situation like this. Honestly, Hydra couldn’t train their agents worth a damn.

She took a breath.

“My name is Naomi. Like I said, I am lost. I took a hit to the head and woke up a few miles from here. I’m just trying to get to nearest city.” While her name definitely wasn’t Naomi, the rest of the story was real. She had hit her head and she did just wake a few miles from here. She wasn’t the best of liars by a long shot, but she could twist the truth to her benefit.

Bucky took a closer look at her, noting that she did indeed have a nice sized cut on side of her head. It looked like the blood had been hastily wiped, but the cut hadn’t been properly attended to. It could also be fake, Bucky thought, thinking back to when the Red Skull had taken his face off. Anything was possible.

The clock was running down, she could sense it. They either going to shoot her or let her go.

“Please.” She looked imploringly at Bucky. Begging wasn’t her style no matter the circumstances so this was as close as she could get. She added a little quiver in her voice to try and make it more believable but she wasn’t sure how successful it was. The way it was looking, he would most likely fire on her. The best she could do was rely on her reflexes and speed to get her back into the cover of the trees. From there she would use the foliage for concealment, it was almost night. Hopefully, she would take out one or two of them while she was making a run for the forest.

She kept her eyes on Bucky’s gun, timing was everything.

“Alright.”

She almost started at the deep voice. While she had heard someone approaching on her left, she hadn’t taken her eyes off the gun in front of her. The man holding the gun glanced to his right, a bit of confusion playing on his face.

While Steve was wary, he figured that it was worth a shot bringing her in. This trap had been poorly planned on Hydra’s part which might be a signal of their desperation. Better yet, it was possible for them to turn Hydra’s slip up into their favor. If it was indeed a Hydra trap, then they could possibly use this to gain some information. If it amazingly wasn’t, then they would see this woman to safety.  

Steve nodded at Bucky who slowly lowered his gun. Naomi still kept her eyes on him even as Steve approached her with caution.

“We are going to take you in, m’am.” Steve thought it was best to keep up with pretenses at this point given Hydra agents’ penchant for suicide.

Naomi finally turned her attention over to Steve. “Take me in where?” She fully expected to have been shot at my now, but she's not going to get her hopes up, not the way things have been going lately.

“To base.” Steve said, keeping his answers short. He tilted his head at Bucky who jumped out of the jeep.

“Base?” Ok, these guys were lunatics. What base were they talking about? She didn’t want to push her luck seeing as they just took the gun out of her face, but she didn’t like the way things were sounding. “I just want to get to the nearest city.” She reminded them.

“The nearest town is taken over by Germans. Not to be rude, but I don’t think you would be much of a hit there. No matter how you slice it, you need to come back with us. We can get you to safety.” Bucky interjected as he played along with Steve.

“What kind of Germans?” She asked slowly. Something was rotten in the state of Denmark and she didn’t like it one bit.

“The kind that wear swastikas.” Steve informed her as he looked at her, a bit baffled. The war had been going on for years. Hydra agent or not, why was she playing stupid about the war? What is the point of that, Steve pondered.

Naomi inhaled sharply as she narrowed her eyes in thought. Had there been some kind of civil war involving Neo Nazis while she had been out here playing Man vs Wild? Although she hadn’t checked in with her contacts in three days and it was certainly in the realm of possibilities, it also was a bit far-fetched. It also still bothered her that they were wearing World War II and Captain America costumes, especially given what they had just said. What were they playing at?

While she could certainly stick to her original plan of taking cover in the trees and taking them out with simple guerilla warfare tactics, her instincts were screaming at her that something wasn’t right. It hadn’t been right since she woke up a few hours ago. She could feel it.  Besides, these men were already on high alert with her which would make it all the more difficult. Of course, if they got her to whatever base they were speaking of, then it could be game over. She had choices, but they were limited.

It looks like she was going to have to enter the belly of the beast.

“How far is this base?” Naomi asked as Bucky ushered her into the backseat of the jeep, Steve keeping a steady eye on them. Morita moved into the passenger seat as Bucky joined her in the back. He made sure to brandish his gun while doing it. “You make any sudden movements, sweetheart, and it's lights out.” The look he gave her was enough to let her know he meant business.

“I thought you said the Germans were the ones to worry about.” Naomi lifted her chin in a somewhat stupidly brazen act. She told herself that she was testing the boundaries.

Bucky smirked at her. “Can never be too careful.”

Once they were settled, Steve got into the other jeep and they moved out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :)


	3. There's a war on the horizon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! Took me ages to write this and one of the reasons was because I kept tossing and turning ideas in my head and for the longest time just couldn't commit. But the chapter is here now. Please excuse any errors, I didn't proof as much as I should have. I am working on chapter 4. It should be done within two weeks (hopefully I am not jinxing myself)!

They had been travelling in silence for about ten minutes before Naomi spoke to the man sitting next to her.

“What’s your name?” she asked. 

He blinked at her. “Sergeant James Barnes.” 

James Barnes…that name sounded familiar but Naomi couldn’t quite place it. 

She looked between all of the men, eyes landing on the man in the Captain America costume. They made eye contact. 

Something clicked in her head.

The Howling Commandos.

These men were doing a World War II reenactment and decided that they want to stray from the beaten path by reenacting the war from the perspective of the Commandos. It explained everything from the strange wardrobe to the jeeps (kudos to them for getting relics like those in mint condition).

They were also startlingly committed to character.

Great.

She felt that she could safely conclude that she was being held captive by some very enthusiastic historians slash comic book nerds. 

She eyed their guns. 

Historians who wanted to be so accurate that they made sure to get real guns that were the same make and model for the time period. Naomi rolled the question of whether they were loaded or not in her head. She supposed it didn’t matter, she would just ride this out until they got to whatever “base” they were going to. She supposed it was code for the city. Maybe the mission was salvageable after all. Hopefully, she would get to the meeting point on time. 

She glanced back at Barnes, “Sergeant Barnes, huh?”

He had hauntingly familiar eyes even though she had never seen a picture of James Barnes (or any of the other Howling Commandos) nor had she ever met this man before, whatever his real name may be. Those eyes though, she was sure she had seen them before, perhaps on a relative of his? In any case, it struck a small nerve in her. Maybe it was because she knew how the story of James Barnes ended and it had, long ago, touched her some way.

“What are you guys doing in the middle of Belgium?” Naomi asked. She was sure how he was going to answer but she just wanted to confirm that it would be consistent.

Bucky snorted, “There’s a war going on, in case you haven’t noticed.”

Bingo. 

She didn’t think she would get more than this and asking more questions about a war that she should supposedly know about would agitate.

Naomi let out a sigh as she let her eyes drift to the scenery around her.

“Guess I just haven’t been paying attention.”

She let the conversation end there as she took in their surroundings in the evening sun.

 

Bucky eyed the woman sitting next to him suspiciously. He took in all the minute details. For one thing, she was tall, almost as tall as him. For another, she had a great deal of muscle, her biceps were especially bigger than the average woman, even those who worked at the factories and docks. Both facts adding on to the strong possibility that this she was, in fact, a he.

They didn’t search him or his pack for weapons, not wanting to spook him so soon. No, they wanted to wait, watch for him to make his move. Dangerous, yet it was very probably that it could yield much more information than if they were to arrest him outright. 

One thing that still baffled Bucky, was his refusal to acknowledge the war. Either this playing dumb tactic was somehow a genius move by Hydra or one of their most idiotic. Bucky was going to go with the latter. There was absolutely nothing to gain and it only made him seem even more suspicious.  
Bucky kept his eyes sharp and directly on Naomi. Who knows what he’d try to pull when the sun set.

 

An hour later, they had apparently reached their destination. 

Naomi hummed to herself as she got out of the jeep, they were still in the forest. Perhaps she had misjudged them. Maybe base was code for ‘kill you at some obscure location in the forest.’ Honestly, if that’s the case, then they could have done that where they had found her and saved her the two hour jeep ride. It had been uncomfortable to say the least.

Barnes still kept his gun trained on her as the rest of the men set up a small camp. The only other black person, Gabe Jones if memory served, set up a transmitter device. 

Perhaps they were awaiting "orders". 

It fascinated Naomi how much detail they put into this whole reenactment thing. She was no expert, but even she knew that all of the antiques that she had seen so far, guns included, must be worth a small fortune. The more she thought about it, the more she suspected that at least one of these men was a millionaire. Someone with a lot of cash had to be bankrolling this. Especially given the likelihood that it was more than just the “commandos” in on this little trek to the past.  
She would just wait it out. It was all guess work for her at this point, so best to be ready for any and everything.

“Sit down,” Barnes grunted at her, “We are going to be here for a while.” 

She frowned, but did as told. Again, no need to agitate him further. Naomi assumed this charade would soon be over anyway. At least for her when she got out of their hair.

 

Bucky sat down next to Naomi. The sun had just set and soon they would only have the moonlight which made it all the more important to keep a close eye on him. Bucky still wasn’t convinced that Naomi was a woman even if he did look to have breasts. As far as Bucky was concerned, anything was possible when Hydra was involved. 

They had orders to hang tight at their location until a path was cleared for them in the next few hours. Once they got the signal, they would head out on the designated road to Paris. After they stopped at the base in Paris, they could decide what to do with their captive before heading back to England for some well-deserved leave.

Hopefully they would make it back without any more surprises but Bucky wasn’t going to bet on it.

 

After everyone had settled in and Gabe had established a secure line, Steve began to thing about the situation. It wasn’t like they hadn’t taken a prisoner on the fly before, but he had to admit that they had never captured anyone quite like the person they had now.

A black woman in the middle of the forest who had no idea that a World War was going on? It raised Steve’s hackles. The most likely explanation is that she is a Hydra spy dressed as a colored woman. On top of that theory there was also the strong possibility of this woman being a man. One other scenario that Steve had thought of was that she really was an American black woman. One who had been severely brainwashed by the Germans or Hydra to carry out a spy mission for them. He had seen it once before, a poorly done job on a captured Frenchman. 

The latter theory troubled Steve more than any other possibility. 

Either way, Bucky would keep a good eye on her; not much got past Bucky, that much Steve was sure. Steve frowned and turned his attention to the surrounding forest, he could hear all the rustling of the nightlife although it seemed like there was a struggle going on to the North of him if the rustling branches gave an indication. 

He furrowed his eyebrows.

 

And then the world flipped upside down again.

 

A petite black woman burst out of the forest and ran face first into Steve. Although the surprise and force of the collision caused Steve to stumble a bit, he held steady to his new cargo, hands gently gripping her arms.

Brown eyes met blue and for a moment, everything was still. 

Until brown eyes flickered over to Naomi and said, “Z!”

The strength of her flailing momentarily surprised Steve and let go. She move a few feet from him and headed in the direction of Naomi, but Steve caught hold of her again, this time in a more firm grip. The young woman turned her face up towards him, her mouth poised to speak but then thought better of it. She turned back to Naomi and gave her a look that clearly said, a little help here.

Naomi was giving the smaller woman an incredulous look of her own.

“Just what exactly,” Steve questioned, “is going on here?”

Everyone had their eyes on Naomi, waiting for her response. 

 

The mission is circuitous, Naomi had decided

Round and round it went with highs that lulled her into false security, only for things to take a turn for the worse and leave her blindsided.

This was a very serious turn for the worse, perhaps the lowest point of the mission.

Because what the hell was Miranda doing here? 

Miranda, who should be meeting with their clients at rendezvous in few hours. Miranda, who was supposed to stall for time because Naomi was sure she wouldn’t make it to the meeting location in time for the status report. Miranda, who was the last line of defense for mission success even if Naomi didn’t make it back. 

So why was Miranda here, in the middle of nowhere Belgium when the girl had left camp early this morning headed into town? 

Naomi—Zelda sighed. 

Leave it to Miranda to simultaneously blow her fragile cover while flipping the entire script. Sometimes, she didn’t know why even brought her along for missions like these. Definitely a failing in her logic.

But…what’s done, is done, best move on. 

Before Zelda, could even think of how to calm the chaos that was surely about to erupt, ten angry men flew out of the same brush as Miranda, guns ready.

Although it was dark, the full moon gave enough light for Zelda to eye the swastikas on the arm of their uniforms.

Well, shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, hope you guys enjoyed it. I struggled a lot with adding Miranda, mostly because I don't like OC overload in fanfics, but I felt that in order for me to take this into the direction I want, Miranda is a key component, something I hope my writing will illustrate later on.


	4. Writing on the Wall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay!!! Chapter 4 is finally here!! It actually makes me very happy to update and I get the impression that it makes people happy when I update so it's a win-win! Chapter 5 is on the way and depending on if inspiration really hits, it will be done soon. The intro chapters have been very hard because there is a lot going on and we have two new characters added to the universe. Hopefully once the story really gets going, it will be easier to write and thus more updates!! 
> 
> Anyways, ENJOY! And if you want, let me know what you think!!

It was embarrassing how fast the ten Nazis went down.

Well, embarrassing for the Nazis.

As soon as the small troop had come into the clearing, Steve had pushed the petite woman in his arms towards the ground with a shout to get down.

Steve slung his shield before any soldier could pull their trigger.They had mistakenly taken a formation that allowed a single throw of the shield to incapacitate six of them. 

Bucky used the surprise of Steve’s assault to shoot down three men who weren’t in the path of shield. Dugan got the fourth.

It was obvious that the shield surprised and uncoordinated the group because they didn’t get a single shot off before they all went down. The ease of the take down led Steve to believe these men were either improperly trained or the team was new. Perhaps both. 

“Watch them,“ Steve nodded to Falsworth and Dernier while gesturing towards the Nazis he had put down with his shield. If they so much as twitched, those two would put them down.

Steve also signaled to Jones to get back on the radio. They needed to get in touch with command to have them hurry up and clear the path.

Their situation was getting out of hand.

In less than four hours, they had taken on two prisoners and snuffed out a handful of German soldiers. This was on top of the mission that they had completed some hours earlier. 

Steve turned to his “charge” and found that while she had gotten up from the ground, she hadn’t moved much from where he had haphazardly pushed her in his haste to have her get down.

She was staring over at the fallen Nazis, looking a bit shaky on her feet. Steve didn’t like the look on her face.

 

For Zelda, there were two things. 

The first was that the Captain America wannabe knew how to use his shield; he took out six men with one throw. 

Impressive, but also somewhat troublesome. 

The second thing was that the guns had real bullets and these men had just killed at least four other men participating in the reenactment. During the skirmish, Miranda stood close to the Captain America man, not really moving from where he had left her. 

Zelda hadn’t moved much herself except for when Barnes had pushed her to the ground. She willingly let him, not really knowing what to expect.

It was over as soon as it started.

When “Cap” had thrown his shield, it took some of the other Nazis by surprise which the “Howling Commandos” took advantage of. That shield had been the death knell for some of those men.

Honestly, Zelda didn’t know what to think. She had no love for Nazis, dress up or otherwise, but it was troubling how they dispatched away with these men who had inadvertently signed up to play for the wrong team.

Well, perhaps play wasn’t the right word seeing as how four men were now dead.

She thought reenactments were supposed to be a fun activity you did with your nerdy history friends. An activity everyone walked away from after it ended.

Apparently these guys held other ideas about how reenactments went. It was possible she had it wrong, maybe this was some surreal survivor game with a World War II twist. Perhaps, they had all signed contracts okaying the shooting and killing of one another. 

The world was strange place and Zelda didn’t have time to sit around and figure it out.

In any case, the situation had become more dangerous than she had anticipated so it would be best if she and Miranda made their exit.

Zelda glanced over at Miranda just in time to watch her slowly sink to ground, her frame slightly shaking.

She was moving before she knew it, effortlessly pushing Barnes out of the way. He made a noise of protest, but she ignored it and was at Miranda’s side in second’s time.

Zelda knelt down besides Miranda and placed a steady hand on her back.

She could only hope that she wasn’t sick or severely injured. It would be harder to get away from “Commandos” if she was.

Miranda took in a deep, but shaky breath as she stared at the Nazis. Zelda looked her over, using the moon for light. The first thing she noticed was that Miranda’s left eye was slight swollen and a large bruise was forming. She had a split lip to match it. There was also a moderately sized gash on the side of her head that was still oozing a bit of blood. 

It was similar to the one Zelda had been sporting earlier.

Zelda frowned at her injuries wondering if she had gotten into it with the Nazis. Most likely, as it seems like they had chased Miranda into the clearing. Be that as it may, the injuries Miranda had weren’t enough to warrant her atypical behavior.

Zelda narrowed her eyes, taking in the quakes along Miranda’s body.

Maybe the girl was just shaken. By what, she had no idea. Because Miranda, for lack of better words, was a sturdy girl. Fighting and gunfire were nothing to her. Which led Zelda to believe that if she was shaken up by something, it was something that had happened way before she got to this clearing.

Miranda continued to stare at the dead men, brows furrowed. 

“Z,” she whispered with a tremble in her lip, “They’re real.” 

Zelda frowned again. Did she mean the bullets or the men? Zelda had only suspected the bullets in the guns were real, but of course she knew those men were real.

As if she could read her mind, Miranda spoke again, this time with a tremor in her voice to match the slight shaking of her body.

“No,” Miranda continued, “The Nazis are real.”

“What?” Zelda was confused. What did she mean by that? Did she mean that these men were Neo-Nazis…? But then why--

Miranda turned suddenly, dislodging Zelda’s hand in the process, and grabbed Zelda by her forearms. “These men are the real deal, Z!! They, they…you gotta…gotta, “ And Miranda continued on incoherently, gasping for air.

She’s having a panic attack Zelda thought, as Miranda’s nails dug into her arms.

“Breathe.” Zelda knew she wouldn’t get anything out of the girl while she was like this. She had to talk her down, calm her before she hurt herself or worse.

As she talked to Miranda in a soothing voice, reminding her to breathe, Captain America spoke.

“What’s wrong with her,” He asked, alarm in his voice. He made a motion to move closer to them, but suddenly stopped when Zelda looked up. She only spared him half a second, lips pursed in annoyance, “She is having a panic attack.”

She turned her attention back to Miranda. She kept murmuring to her in a calm voice, carefully hiding her anxiousness for Miranda to snap out of it.

Now was the time for cool heads. In the back of her mind however, Zelda couldn’t shake her own fear, small as it may be.

Miranda didn’t have panic attacks in the middle of missions. And they had been in some situations that would make some of the most hardened veterans shake apart.

Girl was like a rock.

While bringing Miranda back down to Earth, Zelda made sure to keep both the “Commandos” and the unconscious “Nazis” in her sights.

No more fucking surprises.

If she could, Zelda would have screamed with frustration. There were too many questions floating through her mind. And if there was one thing she knew, it was that too many unknowns always led to the same conclusion.

A failed mission. 

And if you were particularly unlucky, death.

 

In less than ten minutes, everything had spun wildly out of control. It actually might be a record, Steve darkly mused.

One train of thought that Steve couldn’t let go was that these women, these women were real. The smaller woman was having an attack that was understandingly brought on by the scuffle that had happened earlier.

There were a lot of questions as to how these women came to be here and now, but it was best to let, Naomi—Z, help her friend out. Fortunately, the other woman seemed to be calming down.

While Steve still didn’t completely trust them, the events were bizarre enough to tell him that even if this was a scheme by Hydra, it was falling apart or will be soon. 

War had brought strange things to table, so maybe these women’s story would be another one.

 

Bucky could tell that Steve had lowered his guard, had come to believe that these women might not be that much of a threat. While he knew that Steve would still treat them with suspicion, it meant that he might not be as scrutinizing as he should be.

Meaning that Bucky couldn’t let his guard down. Not for a moment. If anything, he should raise it, to compensate for Steve’s stupidity.

One unidentified woman was enough, but two was too much. He didn’t know what was going on, but to say that he didn’t like it would be an understatement. 

Maybe it wasn’t a trick, maybe they were just two unfortunate women, but wars aren’t won on maybes and the whole situation was still fishy to Bucky.

 

As he pondered the merits of just cutting to the chase and having a full interrogation here and now, Gabe finally got the green light. A path had been cleared and they needed to move out, now. Steve gave the signal for them to pack it in.

Bucky stalked over to the women, while the others packed up the small camp.

Thankfully, it looked like the other woman’s hysteria had finally died down. 

“Sorry, ladies,” He sneered, “We gotta get this show on the rode.” He gestured for them to get up. 

“No,” The woman now known as “Z” said.

She stood up, pulling her friend with her. Tension quickly filled the air. The other men paused, sensing the oncoming battle.

Bucky blinked at them. “I wasn’t asking your permission.” Time was of the essences and he had run out of patience a long time ago.

“Funny because that’s my line.” She wasn’t backing down.

 

Enough was enough.

 

She had been good, she had played it straight lace, but they couldn’t afford the risk any longer. And frankly, she was just tired of it. She could only bullshit for so long before it became too cumbersome.

Zelda was done playing with these boys.

The only thing that was going to happen here was that her and Miranda were going to commandeer one of those jeeps and leave these fools behind with their Nazi buddies.

Barnes had a deep scowl, but Zelda could guarantee it was going to be deeper than that when she was through. 

“Wait,” Miranda said, “Just wait.” The tension lessened a fraction as she grabbed Zelda by the arm. Miranda looked between Barnes and Zelda, and then finally took in the rest of the men, eyes resting on Captain America for a fraction longer than the others. 

She tilted her head towards Barnes. “Are you guys the army or something?” 

“Sergeant James Barnes, US Army.” He answered, not even bothering to cover the impatience in his voice.

“Ok…Ok.” Miranda turned towards Zelda, “We need to go with them.”

Barnes’ eyebrows raised in surprise while Zelda scowled.

“No.” Zelda wasn’t hearing it. 

She knew Miranda was dazed and confused but she needed to snap out of quick. She couldn’t make reckless decisions on the field and expect Zelda to just go with them.

“Listen to me!” Miranda shouted and for a moment, Zelda feared she might work herself back into the panic.

“We have to go with them. Those are real fucking Nazis over there.” She pointed the pile of bodies. “You don’t understand, Z! Please listen to me. When I was in the city, I…” She trailed off, clearly lost in a memory. Fortunately, she quickly shook herself out of it.

“You went into the city?” Zelda questioned, wondering not for the first time, just how Miranda got to this clearing tonight when she was supposed to be in Zion.

“I went into _a_ city. And I’m telling you it was bad, real bad. Please, let’s just let them take us to…wait, where are we going?” Miranda was looking at Barnes in askance. 

“To base.” He was being vague on purpose, obviously trying not to give away where they were headed. 

And this was exactly why Zelda wasn’t game. Neither Zelda nor Miranda had any idea where they were going, but somehow it was a good idea to go with them.

Was now really the time for amateur hour? Zelda had taught Miranda better than that.

Apparently not because Miranda accepted this in stride. She nodded towards Barnes, “This base in a city?”

He shrugged, “You could say that.” While Zelda understood the game he was playing, it was getting on her nerves. They needed specifics. 

It must have shown on her face that she still wasn’t on board because Miranda turned to her and said, “You haven’t been into a city yet have you?”

Miranda didn’t wait for Zelda to answer before continuing, “You’ll understand once we get to the base. “ Here Miranda paused and bit her lip, a small tremor going through her body. It was similar to the shakes from earlier, “It’s really bad, Z. It’s just...” 

She trailed off again, but this time instead of continuing, she took in a shuddering breath.

Her eyes pleaded with Zelda to trust her. 

The idea was stupid and possibly more dangerous than just stealing a jeep. But…something larger was clearly going here, something that Miranda had gotten caught in while they had been separated.

Although she was more than apprehensive, Zelda nodded at Miranda. It seemed to be all the signal that Barnes needed.

“Hate to interrupt,” Zelda could tell that Barnes hated anything but that, “But we really need to be going.”

“You,” He pointed to Miranda. Zelda interjected before he could finish. 

“No, if we go, we go in the same jeep. No splitting up.”

No way in hell they were splitting up into two different cars. If shit hit the fan, then it would be easier to handle if they were together. And if she was going to go through with this, it was going to be her way or the highway.

Apparently, Barnes wanted the highway.

“Who do you think—“

“Enough, we need to move out,” Captain America finally spoke up. “You two will ride with me.”

Zelda had to give it to him, he sounded like a true commanding officer. Maybe he was a captain in real life, Zelda mused. There was a strong possibility that all these men were actual armed service members. Although at this point, Zelda didn’t care. All it meant, was that if need be, they might be harder to kill.

With things being the way they are at the moment, it was minimal impact on the situation at hand.

  

Bucky met Steve’s eyes, part of him wanting to argue, but he knew Steve had made up his mind. He also knew what a stubborn bastard Steve was and that arguing would waste precious time.

Hopefully, this wouldn’t bite the decision wouldn’t bite them in the ass.

Truthfully, Bucky wouldn’t count on it. Especially given how strange the brief argument between the two women had been. The entire conversation seemed off and it raised his hackles that much more.

But there was no time left to think about it more, they had to move out.

Everyone got into their respective vehicle. Bucky insisted that the jeep carrying him, Jones, and Dugan would ride behind the jeep carrying the others. If they weren’t going to split women up and make one ride with him, then the next best thing would be to keep an eye on them this way.

He took out his rifle to have on standby and instructed Dum-Dum to follow the second jeep closely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading and for the wonderful comments. They really are motivating.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Any criticism is appreciated :)


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